Chapter 165: Best Actress
Blackwater Lake, Villa Area
This place, which was only fifty kilometers away from the metropolis, was a very popular tourist destination on Venal-4. The water of Blackwater Lake was not actually black but pristine blue, instead. The lake was one thousand meters deep, so light could not penetrate down to its depths.
It only looked all black from afar because of fine, black sand by the sh.o.r.eline—hence, the name.
This lake was like an air conditioner; warm in the winter and cool in the summer, especially when the water turned warm in winter. Layers of white mist would hung above the lake, s.h.i.+fting and drifting to create a fairytale landscape.
There were few people who could afford to buy a house in the capital ring, where the land itself was worth its weight in gold, and those who could buy an entire villa were even fewer. Billions of star coins were not something the average citizen could possess, which was why the people who could live by Blackwater Lake were exceptionally rich.
Wearing a set of dark clothes, Xia Fei did not disturb anyone, merely informing Pang Xing as he came over all by himself to meet with the three brothers of the Ling family.
Recently, the la.s.s, Avril, had been revolving around Xia Fei, and his life was of course very comfortable with her taking care of him. It was just that she was not used to taking care of others, for she grew up spoiled, causing her to become very exhausted every day, falling asleep in no time once the sun set.
Even if Avril was awake, Xia Fei would also not see fit to tell her about these things. There was no reason to let the innocent girl worry or be afraid because of this. A lady like her ought to live her life in the light, while this dark, scary, and nasty side should be left for Xia Fei to deal with.
Within the villa area was a hidden forest road, and a hovervan stopped under a copse of overgrown trees. Xia Fei walked over to the front of the vehicle and lightly knocked on the window. The door suddenly opened. It was the eldest of the Ling family who opened it to let him get on.
This hovervan with a huge n.o.ble Diary Company poster plastered on it was but a cover. In fact, it was a mobile station specifically used for reconnaissance and monitoring purposes.
Xia Fei and Ling Yun squeezed in the small carriage, with dozens of large screens monitoring Villa 095 from different angles. Plenty of temporary observation cameras in the darkness were installed by the men of the Ling family around the perimeter. There were even cameras placed inside the villa, so they could see what was happening there from the relative safety of the hovervan.
Xia Fei reckoned that the eldest brother Ling Yun had been the one to infiltrate the villa. After all, he was a spatial ability user. There were no walls out there that could stop him.
Ling Yun nodded at Xia Fei, then gave him an earpiece , and pointed to one of the screens.
Screen no. 5 was the living room of the villa, where the drunk Barty was lying on a sofa set. Not too far away sat a seemingly dense-looking boy.
Barty looked no different from before aside from the fact that his face was redder than usual due to the alcohol he had drunk. He was gasping quite gruffly, seemingly reliving the scene that had just happened.
The extremely dark and b.l.o.o.d.y scene was like the spice of his life. Not only did he enjoy it, he would even often look back on his memories so that he could reminisce about the wondrous sensation. Of course, it was only wonderful in his perspective, and any other normal human being would be infuriated by it. Only someone with a twisted personality like his would find enjoyment in it.
That boy sitting by the side was obviously very strange. Though he was called a child, there were actually quite a lot of wrinkles on his face, and he seemed too short to be called a teenager; barely 1.2 meters in height, he did not appear to weigh more than fifty kilograms.
At the moment, he was clumsily playing with wooden blocks in his hands, the corners of his mouth drooling as a pair of gla.s.sy eyes moved very sluggishly.
Ling Yun took out a paper-thin panel with some information displayed on it and handed it to Xia Fei.
Taking it and looking at the information, it turned out that it was a description of the situation of the mother-son pair living in the villa. The boy’s name was Pan, twenty-five this year. He only had an IQ of ten, which was very low, considering that goats had at least forty. His low intellect meant that he was essentially unable to do anything with his life, being medically diagnosed as an idiot.
Furthermore, Pan was born with dwarfism, so he would never reach adult’s height even if he were to live for a thousand years, forever having the built of a child.
Pan’s full name in the Alliance Citizens Registrar was Pan Zhou, taking his mother’s last name. If he was truly Barty’s son, why would he have his mother’s last name? Barty had become impotent when he was sixteen, so just where did this child come from?
Xia Fei furrowed his brows and continued to read the information on Pan’s mother, puzzled.
The display screen showed a somewhat coquettish woman by the name of Zhou Yuqing, thirty-nine years old. The information stated that she had not been married.
A thirty-nine-year-old mother and a twenty-five-year-old son meant that Zhou Yuqing had gotten pregnant at the age of thirty, giving birth to her son when she was fourteen. Going back twenty-six years, Barty would only be fifteen, still a healthy youth back then.
‘So the fifteen-year-old Barty had an invalid son with the thirteen-year-old Zhou Yuqing, and this has been kept a secret until now?’ Xia Fei thought to himself.
If that was truly the case, there should be no reason why no one from the Jian family would have no knowledge of this. Considering the age of Barty and Zhou Yuqing back then, they would surely panic if such an incident occured, so how had no one known of their son’s existence for twenty-five years?
Rereading the information about the mother and son, Xia Fei began to a.n.a.lyze each and every detail in his mind, re-examining everything.
This was when a woman entered the living room on the screen. Xia Fei temporarily shelved his thoughts and observed what was happening there.
Zhou Yuqing was holding a bowl of black liquid in one hand and a bag of ice in the other. The thirty-nine-year-old mother had maintained herself well, having the complexion of someone in her twenties, especially with that short black hair of hers. She barely wore any jewelry or accessory of any sort on her, looking fairly casual in her getup.
Xia Fei paid attention to her eyes and noticed that they were like two, round apricots, looking particularly charming. She walked with an air of lightness in her step, her body curvaceous; a single glance was all it took for him to tell that she was not the kind to be devoted.
Arriving next to Barty, Zhou Yuqing helped the man. It was very inconvenient for Barty to sit upright since he did not have his lower limbs, so he needed someone’s help to achieve this.
“Drink this hangover soup and you’ll feel better,” Zhou Yuqing said gently. Xia Fei could hear her speak through the audio-monitoring devices, her charming voice ringing clearly. This woman was a natural vixen, and every move she made was enticing.
Helping Barty to drink the hangover soup, Zhou Yuqing placed a rubber bag filled with ice cubes over his forehead and helped him calm himself.
“Pan, head back to your room,” Zhou Yuqing turned to her son and said.
Pan drooled as he gaped at his mother, only reacting after a long pause, a silly smile on his face as he got up to his feet and walked away.
Zhou Yuqing stared at the child. “Pan, what did I usually teach you?”
Pan blinked his eyes, not saying a word. His reaction time was terrible, making it very hard to interact with others.
“Say ‘goodnight,’” Zho Yuqing ordered, her eyebrows knitted together.
Pan foolishly used his hand to circle around his scalp for a good while before stammering, “G-Good… ni-night…”
Barty was evidently quite annoyed. “Forget it; just leave it. It’s not like you don’t know he’s touched in the head.”
Though Zhou Yuqing was very strict with her son, she showed an air of complete obedience toward Barty. Anyone with a pair of eyes could easily tell that her tenderness was just an act. Any woman who was physiologically normal would not like a man who was physically impaired, especially when the man’s impairment was fatal to a woman who was in her prime, unless she had ulterior motives.
After banis.h.i.+ng Pan back to his room, Zhou Yuqing nestled into Barty like a cat, using that soft yet alluring voice of hers to say, “It’s precisely because I know that he isn’t all that bright that I have to be stricter with him. Once I die in the future, and Pan is left without anyone to rely on, just what sort of life will he lead? Oh, that poor thing, to be nothing from the moment he was born.”
Xia Fei smirked. He suddenly felt that Zhou Yuqing ought to have been an actress. To act the part as vividly as she did, the acting skills she displayed was more than enough to win her an Oscar statuette.
Any clever woman would know that the most powerful weapon they had was not what was between their legs but their tenderness, instead.
Evidently, Zhou Yuqing was a clever woman, and she was wielding her tenderness with such expertise that even the irritable Barty could not feel angry with her.
“Haven’t I already bought Pan a life fund, enough for him to never worry about food or clothes for the rest of his life? There’s even enough to hire a few helpers for his needs, so you needn’t worry about that anymore,” Barty said.
Zhou Yuqing suddenly changed her act, a piteous look hanging on her face. “Sometimes, just having money isn’t enough.”
“Then, what else do you want?” Barty asked, mildly irritated.
Zhou Yuqing used her hand to stroke Barty’s chest, furtively saying, “At the end of the day, Pan is someone from your Jian family. I don’t mind; I’ll be fine as long as I have you by my side, but are you willing to see Pan be nameless for the rest of his life? He doesn’t even belong to a family.”
Zhou Yuqing’s acting talent was being pushed to her fullest potential when she said this, her voice going hoa.r.s.e while her lips quivered and her eyes watered, looking pitiful as if she had been wronged but dared not tell anyone about it.
Barty was silent. Being unable to give Zhou Yuqing and her son a name had always been the hidden pain in his heart. It was a pain that intertwined with his handicapped state, forming this superficially beautiful scene that withheld an extreme degree of depression in his life.
After being silent for quite some time, Barty sighed. “We can’t rush this sort of thing. Let’s discuss it another time.”
That was when Zhou Yuqing did another move that everyone had already expected. The tears in her eyes fell without a sound as she hugged Barty with a look of grat.i.tude. “Yes, I’ll listen to whatever you say. Just say the word and I’ll do whatever you ask. You’re my man—the only person I will love my whole life.”
Any man would find it hard to receive such words from a woman. Though Barty was just half a man, he was still moved by what she had said. He placed a hand on Zhou Yuqing’s back and spoke as though he was speaking to himself. “There’s no hurry. I heard that father is coming back. We’ll see how things are then; I’ll be sure to mention this when he’s happy.”
Zhou Yuqing’s crying increased in intensity as if Barty’s words had moved her until she became a mess.
Xia Fei nearly got up in a standing ovation and cheered. Even the exchange of dialogues in this exciting show was worthy of praise. He felt that he had underestimated the woman; all the past winners of the Oscars ought to be gathered together and have Zhou Yuqing train them once again, for her acting had already surpa.s.sed the realms of acting and was already something transcendental.
Suddenly, Ling Yun seemed to have sensed something off as he abruptly got up from his chair and squawked, “Oh, no! Third brother’s in danger!”